(no subject)

[rivka]

It's funny the way kids' ages telescope.

Two kids on my Friends List are starting kindergarten this fall, just like Alex. (Except that Alex started June 1, but never mind that.) One of these kids, I've always thought of as significantly older than Alex. The other, I've always thought of as significantly younger than Alex. My view of their relative ages was cemented in their infancy, when a few months' gap is huge. But now they are all kindergarteners, and more or less the same age.

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I've been feeling really quiet in LJ these days. There is work stuff going on that I can't really talk about, and it consumes a lot of my emotional energy. Not posting about that stuff winds up meaning not posting at all. You could try asking questions if you felt like it, or you could just, you know, enjoy the silence.

Comments

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

What summer foods have you really been loving this year? We had tomatoes for supper, which brought the subject to mind. Nothing like summer tomatoes.

[geminigirl]

I've been thinking of you a bunch lately-my sweetie entirelysonja has just started homeschooling her daughter who is a few months older than Alex. The two of you have interacted in homeschooling forums before though I don't think your LJ or Facebook friends or anything. (I'm not sure if it's mothering.com or Well Trained Mind or something else.) I know you've been at it for a few months, but I'm curious about how it's going and what you've worked on this summer.

[jenett]

I am loving your blogging about the homeschooling, so a related question: what's the thing that's really surprised you about doing it so far, the thing you wouldn't have expected when you started?

[chargirlgenius.livejournal.com]

I know exactly what you mean about the ages. I think of Alex as a lot older than Henry, and I'm always shocked to remember that my niece, who is six months older than Henry, is also "only" starting kindergarten this year.

[redbird]

Yes. At this point, roadnotes and I are effectively the same age; for six years, it mattered that she's a year older than me, because it means we were in different grades/classes at school.

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

Questions: oh, I always like reading about food. What did you eat when it was horribly hot?

And excursions. Where else would you like to go nearby? A weekend for all of you, a day without kids?

Also, I love reading about the homeschooling, but I'm curious about Alex in other ways. What does she do by herself? What does she do with friends, kid and adult? What is the ballet like?

[kcobweb.livejournal.com]

Yay for kindergarten! We can't wait! (Still a week and a half till Elena starts - they have the kindergarteners start a week after all the big kids.)

[rivka.livejournal.com]

We haven't been getting to the farmer's market much. I have had some very good tomatoes from our neighborhood grocery, which has an arrangement with a local farmer. The real disappointment this year has been the sweet corn. I don't know what happened with the weather, but just about all the corn we've bought has been puny and tasteless.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Oh! Yes, I have seen her around on message boards etc., but I had no idea that she was your sweetie. (She hosted your baby shower that we missed at the last minute because I was in the hospital. Right? Okay, that makes sense now.) The funny thing is that I've thought about writing to her and saying "Hey, we're both homeschooling similar-aged kids and you seem interested, want to get together?", but she doesn't know me from Adam and I am way too shy to do something like that.

I know you've been at it for a few months, but I'm curious about how it's going and what you've worked on this summer.

It's been going very well, I think. We're all enjoying ourselves. The big thing that's happened this summer is that Alex has gone from just barely beginning to read to reading. We've also done a lot of fun exploration of various cultures. Do you know about my homeschooling blog? (http://tinderbox.homeschooljournal.net)

[rivka.livejournal.com]

What did you eat when it was horribly hot?

Typically: some kind of meat or fish cooked quickly on the tabletop grill, bread and butter, and a tray of cut-up raw vegetables and fruits. We don't have air conditioning in the kitchen or dining room, so minimizing stove use was critical.

And excursions. Where else would you like to go nearby? A weekend for all of you, a day without kids?

My ideal day-without-kids would involve a spa in the mountains, some soak/wrap/massage-oriented spa treatments, really good food for lunch and dinner, and a hike in the woods.

I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving at Williamsburg again. I'd like to go back to Assateague Island this fall, but I doubt we'll make it out there.

I'm curious about Alex in other ways. What does she do by herself? What does she do with friends, kid and adult? What is the ballet like?

Alex spends a lot of time working on various art projects, like origami (her latest design can be either a cat or a dog, depending on how you hold it - it's really cool) and cut-paper projects. She also likes to make big complicated designs with pattern blocks, etc. She spends a lot of time pretending, although increasingly she is secretive about what exactly she's playing, so I don't know the details. She likes to build fairy houses in the garden and mix magic potions out of leaves and berries. She likes to catch snails and pillbugs and make houses for them. She and Colin like to chase each other around the house and climb on each other.

The ballet is awesome. She's in the Young Children's Program at a serious music conservatory. The way this school works, at age seven we'll have to decide whether to seek serious ballet training or go into their "open program" for students who like dancing but don't want to make a big deal out of it. Until age seven, everyone is together in the early childhood program.

The Young Children's classes are developmentally appropriate, with a lot of fantasy and games and an incredibly nurturing teacher... but Alex also comes out of class using phrases like "fifth position" and "port de bras" and lecturing us about the wrong way to do a plie. So the classes are very, very gentle and fun, but with an underlying seriousness of purpose.

One thing I love about the ballet program is that children Alex's age do not have a recital. There are "open classes" which parents are invited to attend, and twice a year they go to a nursing home to dance for the residents. But five- and six-year-olds do not dress up in expensive costumes and perform on a stage in front of a big audience.

Here's a picture from ballet:
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/rivka/4849724055/)

[geminigirl]

Yes-she's been my sweetie for almost ten years. She's the one that hosted the baby shower. She's in Takoma Park, so not too far from you. I'd be more than happy to facilitate an introduction if you like. She knows who you are (she's actually mentioned that before) so it wouldn't be a totally weird thing to connect the two of you.

I do know about your homeschooling blog but I have a hard time keeping up with LJ and Facebook, let alone anything that doesn't have an LJ feed these days and had lost track of the name of your blog.

One of the neat things that Sonja is doing is "museum schooling"-she's homeschooling but with the fantastic array of museums available locally, she's really taking advantage of what they have to offer as part of her homeschooling plans.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Gosh, I can't imagine why you might have trouble keeping up with internet stuff! What can you possibly be doing with your time? *grin*

(And there actually is an LJ feed at tinderbox_blog, but please don't feel obligated.)

If you think she might like to get together, please do set up an introduction. The museum schooling stuff sounds really neat.

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

That ballet looks adorable and sounds really wholesome. I'm glad.

[geminigirl]

I don't feel obligated, I feel interested. If I wasn't interested I wouldn't have asked. I'm glad there's a feed-now I know I can keep up.

I will mention getting together when I talk to her on the phone tomorrow night. She can explain her concept of "museum schooling" much better than I can too.

Two days a week of therapy (probably soon to be three) with Miriam, a yoga class, I'm trying to add a dance class for Naomi. I'm hoping for music of some sort soon too.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I am loving your blogging about the homeschooling, so a related question: what's the thing that's really surprised you about doing it so far, the thing you wouldn't have expected when you started?

In nursery school, Alex was really emotional about peer situations. She cried a lot over normal peer conflicts and spent a lot of time obsessively analyzing things like, I don't know, another kid criticizing her color choices in a drawing. I mean, nine months after that happened she would still remember it and bring it up.

When we brought her home full-time, the hypersensitivity dried up completely. She'll come to me and report "Soandso hit me and I told him I didn't like it and he didn't stop!" and then go back and play with Soandso again, when previously that would have led to massive sobbing meltdowns. I haven't heard obsessive over-analysis of a peer situation in a couple of months.

I think that Alex is probably an introvert who was stressed out by being in group situations all day. She loves playing with other kids when she does get together with them, and approaches strange kids in public to suggest that they play together. She seems socially fine. But she likes having a lot of time to play by herself.

I totally did not expect that she would do better, emotionally, with less peer contact.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Does Alex like postcards? I have encountered homeschoolers at Postcrossing, they seem to find the postcard exchange educational (I could send a map of Estonia postcard to your work address - if you would rather not use the home one for privacy reasons, if you would like to try out reaction).

Alex hasn't really encountered postcards, but would probably love one. That is such a kind offer! I will LJ-message you an address.

what will be the first foriegn language you will teach to your children? Why? At what age are you planning to start the lessons?

I think that Spanish is a requirement for a well-educated 21st-century American, so we'll be teaching Spanish. We should be doing it already, but haven't managed to squeeze it in. Michael and I are both as monolingual as an extremely monolingual thing, so it's not going to be easy for us to do this. We have access to video lessons, though, and we need to make it a priority.

We might introduce a classical language later on, like age 10 or so. I always regretted not taking Greek in college.